Couples - The Domestic Division of Labour Flashcards
What does the domestic division of labour refer to?
The roles that men and women play in relation to housework, childcare and paid work
What are sociologists interested in regarding the domestic division of labour?
They are interested in whether or not men and women share the domestic tasks equally
Who developed the instrumental and expressive roles theory?
Parsons
Which model of the family shows a clear division of labour between husband and wife?
Parsons’ functionalist model of the family
What role does the husband have according to Paraons?
The instrumental role
What does the instrumental role involve?
Achieving success at work so the husband can produce financially for his family. The man is the breadwinner
What role does the wife have according to Paraons’ functionalist model of the family?
An expressive role
What does the expressive role involve? (3)
Primary socialisation of the children
Meeting the family’s emotional needs
Full time housewife rather than wage earner
What is the division of labour based on according to Parsons?
Based on biological differences
What roles are men and women biologically suited to according to Parsons?
Women biologically suited to nurturing role
Men biologically suited to role of provider
Why is the segregated division of labour a good thing according the Parsons?
Because it is beneficial to men and women, their children and wider society
Which sociologists hold the view of Parsons other than functionalists?
New Right thinkers
Three sociologists that criticise Parsons
Young and Willmott
Oakley
Y and W
Young and Willmott
How do Y and W criticise Parsons’ functionalist model of the family?
They argue that men are now taking greater share of domestic tasks and more wives are becoming wage earners
What aspect of Parsons’ functionalist model of the family do feminist sociologists reject?
The view that the division of labour is based on biological differences
Who does Parsons’ functional model of the family only benefit according to feminists?
Only benefits men
What process did the unfair division of labour originate according to Oakley?
Industrialisation
What does Oakley believe about the housewife role? (Criticism of Parsons)
Believes it is socially constructed rather than biological
Who came up with 2 conjugal roles?
Bott
What are conjugal roles?
Roles that men and women play within a marriage
What two conjugal roles did Bott develop?
Segregated and joint conjugal roles
Segregated conjugal roles
Couples have separate roles where male is breadwinner and female in homemaker/carer
Joint conjugal roles
Couple share tasks such as housework and childcare
During what study did Y and W identify a pattern of segregated conjugal roles?
In their study of traditional w/c extended families on 1950s London
How did Y and W identify a pattern of segregated conjugal roles?
Found men were breadwinners who played little part in home life and spend their leisure time with workmates
Found women were full time housewives
What view do Y and W take about the history of the family?
A march of progress view
What do Y and W believe there has been a long term trend away from?
A long term trend away from segregated conjugal roles
What type of family did Y and W develop?
The symmetrical family
What is the symmetrical family?
A family where the roles of the husband and wife are equal as women now work, men now help with housework/childcare and couples now spend their leisure time together
In modern society, which couples are symmetrical families most common in?
Younger couples
Geographically and socially isolated couples
Rich couples
What is the rise of the symmetrical family a result of according to Y and W?
Rapid social changes
Examples of rapid social changes
Changes in women’s positions
Geographical mobility
New technology
Higher living standards
Which sociologists reject the march of progress view?
Feminists
Why do feminists reject the march of progress view?
Because they argue that little has changed as men and women remain unequal within the family as women do more more
What do household inequalities stem from according to feminists?
Patriarchal society
Which sociologist is Oakley?
A feminist
How does Oakley criticise Y and W?
By claiming their arguments are exaggerated
Example of how Y and W arguments are exaggerated
They found husbands helped their wives at least once a week but this could simply include an easy task such as taking the kids to the park
When did Oakley conduct research onto housewives?
1974
What trend towards family symmetry did Oakley find in her research on housewives?
No evidence of a trend towards symmetry
What percentage of husbands had a high level of participation in housework in Oakley’s research on housewives in 1974?
15%
What percentage of husbands had a high level of participation in childcare in Oakley’s research on housewives in 1974?
25%
Who found that fewer than 20% of husbands played a major role in childcare in their 1983 study?
A feminist called Boulton
How do Y and W exaggerate men’s contributions according to Boulton?
By looking at tasks involved in childcare, rather than responsibilities
When would men carry out ‘female tasks’ according to feminists Worde and Hetherington?
Only when their partners weren’t available
